Baja violence

Spate of armed robberies threatens tourism

November 24, 2007

“Bullets over Baja” is hardly the headline Mexican officials want on a U.S. Web site for surfers. It is, nevertheless, the headline of an article by the senior online editor at large at www.surfermag.com. It is one of many recountings of the ordeal of Tom Weber and his girlfriend last month 200 miles down the Baja coast. That assault was amplified more recently by a horrifically similar report by Chris Hall and his family of being carjacked, robbed and left on a remote mountaintop by armed thugs.

Weber and his girlfriend, parked in his motor home on a remote oceanside bluff, were confronted by two armed men in ski masks who shot into Weber's camper, sexually assaulted his girlfriend and left with $10,000 worth of equipment.

Weber is a lifelong surfer, owner of a surfing academy in North County and has spent 500 days in Baja, often with students in tow. Hall has frequently attended off-road races there. Their decisions to never return, because they now consider Baja unsafe, carry considerable weight on this side of the border. Those who must visit are advised to stay acutely aware of their surroundings and travel in groups.

Serious crimes against tourists aren't new to Baja. But this spate of life-threatening armed theft has longtime observers puzzled. Their theories range from the violence associated with the trade in and addiction to methamphetamine, to resentment of U.S. tourists, to the easy mark their vulnerable victims make.

At some point Mexican officials must stop the gunmen or risk losing ever more tourist dollars. With Weber's and Hall's ordeals, that point has arrived.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20071124/news_lz1ed24top.html#

Source: Sign On San Diego